Lazy Dish Network install techs.

[Viin]

I think it's a function of my location.  It wasn't unusual for my satellite to be out for hours at a time due to snow, rain, or winds.  I don't think I've been without a cable signal for more than a few minutes and the weather has been equally unpredictable. 

You must have some trees or something that get in the way when it's windy. It sucks that trees can block the signal, but that's the way it is.

We had to move our dish to another part of the house while we rebuilt our garage, and it worked pretty good until the tree started leafing in during the spring .. thankfully, we were done with the garage at that time and moved it back to where it originally was. Before, anytime the tree moved (even without leaves) in front of the dish, it'd break up the signal.

Seems to work much better here, closer to the equator.  The satellites are geosynchronous and -- if I recall from Siense Klas -- that means they have an equatorial orbit.

Geosynch != equatorial. Sats like the XM Rock and Roll sats and the DirecTV sats are stationed in geosync above North America. As an example, Rock (or is it Roll?) is setup to cover the west coast and Roll (or is it Rock?) is setup to cover the east coast. If you travel too far south, north, or out into the oceans you won't get coverage.

You will also notice it with DirecTV when flying Frontier to Mexico (say, Cancun) which is even closer to the equator. The service cuts out south of Texas.

[Murgos]

To stay over the same spot on earth, a geostationary satellite also has to be directly above the equator. Otherwise, from the earth the satellite would appear to move in a north-south line every day. We call that "orbiting in the equatorial plane."

NASA

[Arrrgh]

http://www.multichannel.com/blog/350000435/post/560012856.html

Their doing things like charging 39.99 for the privilege of plugging in a usb external drive doesn't give me a warm fuzzy about dish.

[Viin]

To stay over the same spot on earth, a geostationary satellite also has to be directly above the equator. Otherwise, from the earth the satellite would appear to move in a north-south line every day. We call that "orbiting in the equatorial plane."

Interesting. The transmitters must be pointed at NA then. Thanks for the correction!

[Abagadro]

http://www.multichannel.com/blog/350000435/post/560012856.html

Their doing things like charging 39.99 for the privilege of plugging in a usb external drive doesn't give me a warm fuzzy about dish.

It's a one time charge for the firmware download that then allows you to basically have unlimited DVR space as you can swap external drives. Doesn't seem all that outrageous to me.

[Big Gulp]

I have the Kung Fu Channel!!!



All HD, all chop socky/samurai movies, all the time.  Along with the Monster Channel, I can now die a happy man.

[Arrrgh]

That is tempting. Do they have an all anime channel?

[Big Gulp]

That is tempting. Do they have an all anime channel?

I've got an animation channel.  It's a mix of classic stuff, new animation, and (unfortunately, because I hate it) a lot of anime.  Oh, there's also an HD gamers channel.

ETA:  What's strange is that they don't have an HD Western Channel.  That'd be the hat trick, right there; Kung Fu, Monster Movies, and Westerns.  That's a tough line up to beat.

[Murgos]

There is always On Demand.

[Strazos]

There is an "All Anime" network that is gearing up to launch in the US in the near future, if it has not already occurred. It's the same channel that is big over in Asia. They're also in Canada, and possibly Europe or SA or something.

[RhyssaFireheart]

I have the Kung Fu Channel!!!

All HD, all chop socky/samurai movies, all the time.  Along with the Monster Channel, I can now die a happy man.

DAMN YOU TO THE DEEPEST LEVEL OF THE COLDEST HELLS!!!!

[bhodi]

FIOS needs to get the kung-fu channel. Yesterday.

[Signe]

I'll never get FIOS.  They spy on you through their routers.  I know they do.  They're collecting information.   

[bhodi]

That's why I encrypt all my traffic and bounce it around the globe like in sneakers. Sure, I may have 3000ms latency, but it's worth it. They'll never know I play City of Heroes.

[Kitsune]

Back when it was still shiny new, my parents got Dish.  It was a good price and great customer support, and they had it set up where they were paying by the year.  About six months ago, they get a letter telling them that the price is going up.  Like, doubled; we aren't talking a small increase.  My father calls them, and this paraphrased conversation ensues:

Him: "Guys, what the hell.  You're charging way more than the competition after this price hike."
Them: "Well, y'know.  Expenses and stuff."
Him: "I've been a customer of yours for ten years, but I don't love you enough to pay this much extra.  DirecTV's channel package is forty bucks a month less, I'm going to have to see about switching."
*TV goes black.*
Him: "...  Did you just disconnect my service?"
Them: "Yeah.  You would've canceled anyways."
Him: "I've prepaid until the end of the year."
Them: "Oh.  Well I can reconnect it.  That'll be a $70 reconnection charge."
Him: "Manager plz."
Manager: "Yello."
Him: "I am the living avatar of Samuel Jackson's rage.  Refund my payment for the remaining months of this year, plus fuck off and die kthx."
Manager: "DirecTV will raise their rates to our price after a year, just wait and see.  You'll be sorry."
Him: "So I'll be sorry about paying more in a year instead of paying more now?  How am I going to be sorry about that?"
Manager: "... Thanks for choosing Dish! *click*"

Which just goes to show how one shitty employee is all it takes to lose a customer for a company.

[Cheddar]

FIOS needs to get the kung-fu channel. Yesterday.

Heh, we are working on expanding the line-up.

I'll never get FIOS.  They spy on you through their routers.  I know they do.  They're collecting information.   

People actually believe this- its bullshit.

[Big Gulp]

Heh, we are working on expanding the line-up.

You need to pull some strings and get that shit into my neighborhood.

[Signe]

FIOS needs to get the kung-fu channel. Yesterday.

Heh, we are working on expanding the line-up.

I'll never get FIOS.  They spy on you through their routers.  I know they do.  They're collecting information.   

People actually believe this- its bullshit.

Of course, you'd tell me that.  Where is all the copper?  Where?  What have you done with it all?  What are you building???!!!

[bhodi]

Hey cheddar, can you kick whoever designed the new guide in the nuts for me? The UI is fucking RETARDED. Like, designed by chimps-flinging-poo retarded.

The skip improvement is very nice, in fact I am happy with everything once the playback starts, but I want to gouge my own eyes out using everything else.

Functionality (like listing all programs on a channel by program name not by time) seems to have vanished, the damn thing is ugly, it's a pain in the ass to delete stuff, favorites goes to the top instead of what channel you are on, slow, craptastic, frustrating garbage arrrghhhh I almost wish I could go back to the old one. There are so many things wrong with it I don't know where to begin. JUST LICENSE TIVO OS.

[Cheddar]

Hey cheddar, can you kick whoever designed the new guide in the nuts for me? The UI is fucking RETARDED. Like, designed by chimps-flinging-poo retarded.

The skip improvement is very nice, in fact I am happy with everything once the playback starts, but I want to gouge my own eyes out using everything else.

Functionality (like listing all programs on a channel by program name not by time) seems to have vanished, the damn thing is ugly, it's a pain in the ass to delete stuff, favorites goes to the top instead of what channel you are on, slow, craptastic, frustrating garbage arrrghhhh I almost wish I could go back to the old one. There are so many things wrong with it I don't know where to begin. JUST LICENSE TIVO OS.

Heh, I promise that all the issues listed are known and are being addressed.  The launch in your area was... not well received.  There are also some bugs that somehow made it through when the guide was issued through your Video Head.   Its been a busy week.

[bhodi]

ah. Nice. Yes, anyone should have noticed these issues, which is why I'm surprised no one threw up a red flag.

Why would different regions get different software version rollouts? That doesn't make much sense. Either that, or I guess people in my region are pickier than most...

[Cheddar]

ah. Nice. Yes, anyone should have noticed these issues, which is why I'm surprised no one threw up a red flag.

Why would different regions get different software version rollouts? That doesn't make much sense. Either that, or I guess people in my region are pickier than most...

It has to be custom designed due to regional differences blah blah blah.  So far every area has had different issues; Northern VA/MD has been a wee bit of a pain. 

[Strazos]

Since we're on the topic of FiOS....

Is it possible to get service if you live in a Townhouse/Condo?

[Cheddar]

Since we're on the topic of FiOS....

Is it possible to get service if you live in a Townhouse/Condo?

Yes.  You would get either a normal ONT unit (where the fiber is cut over to copper) or have an MDU unit installed.  In the case of MDU's you need a VDSL modem.

[Ironwood]

That's a lot of Acronyms.

[Numtini]

That's funny, DISH lost us as customers over lazy installers. We did four installation appointments, two botched, two missed. We're with Directv and very happy.

On the a la carte thing, be careful what you wish for. Most of the channels nobody watches don't cost much anyway. And the advertising revenue would likely go down for all networks, making the subscription higher. A lot of niche channels wouldn't survive and certainly there would be few new entries into the market. And those irritating religious and shopping channels? They pay to be there, so they'd be there anyway even if we had a la carte--in fact there might be even more of them.

[Cheddar]

This just in: FiOS will be launching WWE Premium soon! Wooha!

People love WWE.